EA, Madden to face lawsuit from retired NFL players

Just a few days ago, John Madden‘s resignation brought about some folks waxing sentimental about how much they’re gonna miss the legendary sports announcer. Today however, we find that waxing sentimental is the least of what some retired NFL players are planning to do. They’re mad, and they’re suing — both Madden and Electronic Arts.

Just a few days ago, John Madden‘s resignation brought about some folks waxing sentimental about how much they’re gonna miss the legendary sports announcer. Today however, we find that waxing sentimental is the least of what some retired NFL players are planning to do. They’re mad, and they’re suing — both Madden and Electronic Arts.

The lawsuits stemmed from the use of the players’ images as characters without proper compensation from the franchise. Just last Fall, the retired players won a whopping US$ 28 million in verdict against the National Football League Players Association, when proven that they suggested to EA to just “scramble” the identities for the said retired players so they won’t have to pay them royalties.

Although they might have already won that case, they’ve made it clear that it’s far from over, and that they’re going straight after Madden and EA this time.

Berie Parrish, NFL retiree, said:

The retired NFL players who were used in Madden EA video games will be suing Madden and EA for using us in those games without compensating us. MaddenÂ’s agent Sandy Montag boasts he and Madden collected over $100,000,000 in royalties while paying the retired NFL players used in those games absolutely nothing. Madden knows that the ugly truthful litigation is coming and is probably factoring that into his retirement. I doubt he wants to answer all those fans who will be asking, “Why, John Madden? Why did you screw all those retired players over, you seemed like such a friendly, good-natured buffoon?”…

No deals are going to be made because John Madden is moving his act to his home office where he will continue to screw over the retired players without having to face the fans around the country. Madden and Montag plan to continue licensing Madden without compensating retired players…

Yeowch. Why indeed, Mr. Madden? Seems like somebody’s got a lot of explaining to do.

Via GamePolitics